At least 21 people died this Saturday after a fire in a mine in Kazakhstan, owned by the steel giant ArcelorMittal, to which the government of this Central Asian country responded with a nationalization plan, official sources reported.
The company indicated in a statement that 21 miners died in the fire at the Kostenko mine, north of the city of Karaganda, stating that “there are still 23 workers inside the mine” and specified that more than 200 were rescued.
After what happened, the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokáyev, ordered this morning “to end investment cooperation with ArcelorMittal” and denounced the “systemic nature of the accidents” in that company.
The Kazakh president arrived at the scene of the accident, the causes of which were not specified and, according to the AFP news agency, the government would work on the nationalization of the company’s local subsidiary.
“The government has reached a preliminary agreement with the shareholders of ArcelorMittal Temirtaou and is finalizing the transaction to transfer ownership of the company in favor of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the prime minister announced in a statement.
“At this moment, work is being done to return the company to the Republic of Kazakhstan,” he said on Telegram, specifying that he was not considering handing the company over to “other foreign investors.”
Luxembourg-listed ArcelorMittal has a history of deadly disasters in Kazakhstan and is regularly accused of failing to respect environmental and safety standards, according to AFP.
The fire is the worst mining accident in Kazakhstan since 2006, when 41 miners died at another ArcelorMittal facility, and came two months after five workers died in an explosion last summer.
ArcelorMittal promised compensation and said it would cooperate with authorities. “Our efforts are directed toward that (compensation) and close cooperation with state authorities,” the company said.
Meanwhile, Tokáyev assured that an investigative commission will be created to determine the cause of the accident.
ArcelorMittal operates about a dozen mines in the highly polluted industrial region of this vast, resource-rich country, formerly part of the Soviet Union.
The extraction of iron and coal, as well as oil, gas and uranium, has made its economy the largest in Central Asia, although accidents are common due to aging infrastructure and equipment, and lax safety standards.
Source: Ambito
